Stereoselective aziridination of cyclic allylic alcohols using chloramine-T

The stereoselective aziridination of a range of cyclic allylic alcohols using two different chloramine salts (4-MeC6H4SO2NClNa, TsNClNa and t-BuSO2NClNa, BusNClNa) has been explored. The stereoselectivity of these reactions was highly dependent on the structure of the allylic alcohol and the chloramine salt. Generally, mixtures of cis- and trans-hydroxy aziridines were obtained, in which the major diastereomer was the cis-hydroxy aziridine, whilst complete cis-diastereoselectivity was observed in the aziridination of 1,3-disubstituted allylic alcohols. In each case studied, aziridination using BusNClNa gave higher cis-stereoselectivity than that observed for the same reaction using TsNClNa. Unexpectedly, application of the aziridination conditions to 1-substituted cyclopen-2-en-1-ols did not generate the aziridines. Instead, epoxy sulfonamides were obtained.